New Star Wars project 'The High Republic' follows Jedi 200 years before films

As the latest Star Wars film trilogy comes to a close, Lucasfilm announced Monday it plans to take fans way back into the past of the Jedi Order with a new publishing initiative launching later this year.

“Star Wars: The High Republic” encompasses a series of novels, children’s books, and comics set 200 years before “The Phantom Menace” at the height of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order, telling original stories with new characters that will not overlap with any of the film and television projects Lucasfilm has in development.

“This was a golden age for the Jedi, and also a time of galactic expansion in the Outer Rim. So expect there to be rich tales of exploration; charting out the galaxy, meeting new cultures, and discovering what pioneer life in the Outer Rim was like,” Lucasfilm vice president for franchise content and strategy James Waugh said in a statement.